The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs football team tackled their 2015 awards night at the Beefeater Plaza on Thursday with hard-throwing quarterback Andrew Kehler gaining the most valuable player honour.
Close to 90 per cent of all the Elecs players and their families were represented at the event, which featured season-in-review speeches from the football team’s coaching staff and parents as well as statements of impact from the Elecs graduating captains Adam Paulson, Dallas Dowhanuik, Prestin Bergen and Jacob Shurygalo. The night also shone a light on the Elecs 2015 season through a video highlight package and picture slideshow.
“We definitely showed glimpses of what we were capable of, giving the three top teams in our league one of their toughest games of the season in Peacock, Central and Yorkton,” said Mark Schott, head coach of the Elecs, on the team’s gritty performances this past year. “We had various reasons on our end why we were unable to piece together a complete four quarters against some of those teams, but the talent was there. As coaches we need to make sure we have the time to develop our players at practice and get to the point where we can not only be competitive against those teams for half a game, but compete on their level for an entire four quarters.”
The Elecs work off the field was also honoured at the awards banquet with Paulson and fellow graduating player Garett Ford receiving prizes for their ability to raise the most money for the club through the team’s spring and fall meat sales. Paulson was presented with his jersey for being the top seller of Centennial Foodservice meats during the spring and fall, while Ford was given a legacy plaque for his locker in the practice locker room for coming in as the runner-up.
Schott said the team will lose 13 players to graduation and each was presented with a gift and various dedications throughout the night. He said these athletes were key players on the team, especially on defence, but the returning core of offensive weapons makes 2016 something they can look forward to.
“Our quarterback and most of our receiving core and about half of our offensive line (is returning),” said Schott. “We’ve got some key pieces coming back on offense (and) that position of our team was quite successful this year. We put up a lot of points and moved the ball well, so that’s encouraging to have those players returning. We always get a new crop of players in every year and it’ll be interesting to see how those players fit in and round out the rest of our roster.”
Receiving awards at the ECS Elecs football awards banquet were: Nathan Schmidt, Special Teams Player of the Year; Colein Poole, Defensive Back of the Year; Jake Shurygalo, Linebacker of the Year; Brandon Squires-McDermott, Defensive Lineman of the Year; Levi Pick, Offensive Back of the Year; Donny Mortenson, Receiver of the Year; Adam Paulson, Offensive Lineman of the Year; Keaton Tarnes, Rookie of the Year; Adam Paulson, “Who We Are” Award; Garett Ford and Raistlin Murphy, Bryan Illerbrun Memorial Award; and Andrew Kehler, Most Valuable Player.
